Lived Experience: Ellie's Story of Atypical Severe Self-Harm

In this episode, Ellie from the United Kingdom and National Health Service (NHS) shares her lived experience of atypical severe self-injury while participating in a psychiatric inpatient stay for an acute increase in severity of eating disorder symptoms. She discusses how she has used her experiences as a patient and recipient of mental healthcare in the UK to bring about systemic change, participate as a co-producer and research, and advocate for those with lived experience of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and self-harm.  While participating in our interview while in inpatient care, we invite her live-in care provider (i.e., carer), Shami, to join our conversation and offer her own insights.

Connect with Ellie on LinkedIn here and on Twitter/X @EllieWildbore or @elliewildbore.bsky.social.  Visit her blog at https://balancingontheborderline.home.blog/. Here are two links to Ellie being interviewed about lived experience research and her work on YouTube with the Mental Elf: https://youtu.be/HezHKYrF7zM and https://youtu.be/IA91M6fGaQo. Read the pre-print of her article referenced in this episode available for free here. Learn more about Atypical Severe Self-Injury by listening to our episode with Dr. Barry Walsh on the topic from Season 1 here. 

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The Psychology of Self-Injury podcast has been rated as one of the "10 Best Self Harm Podcasts" and "20 Best Clinical Psychology Podcasts" by Feedspot  and one of the .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}